Supplies
Tools
- Screwdriver
- Scissors
- Glue gun
- Alligator clips (optional)
- Pliers (optional)
Materials
- Conductive thread
- Coin Cell Battery and holder
- LED kit (thread and battery included in kit)
- Lilypad tricolor LED
- 3 small potentiometers (that you can turn with a small screwdriver)
- Small toggle switch (turns on when button is pushed in)
- Pin back
- Pin form/illustration board
- Matching thread
- Needle (small enough to fit through the hole in the sewable battery holder)
- Fabric (to cover pin form)
- Felting needle
- Wool roving (to diffuse the LED)
- Upholstery foam (for felting)
Directions
Making the pin
- Cover the pin form in fabric and attach with the hot glue gun
- Glue LED tricolor lilypad in center with glue gun
- Carefully superglue small washers to potentiometers (to adjust colors without a screwdriver)
Setting up the components
- Sew the positive lead of the lilypad tricolor LED to the positive lead of the battery
- Use a pair of pliers to help you push the needle through the tougher portions of the illustration board
- Attach the battery to the back of the illustration board with some hot glue
- Sew the switch interrupting the negative lead of the battery to the rest of the circuit
Sewing on the potentiometers
- Sew one pin to one of the LED pins and the other one to the pin form at the other side of the switch
- Repeat for the other two potentiometers
- Attach pin back with hot glue to the back of the illustration board
- Needle felt a small white circle of wool roving so that the LED lights will be diffused around the whole circle
- Use black felting and diffuse directly over potentiometers
!: Work cautiously; the felting needles are very sharp
- Sew the pieces of felt down to the illustration board (use pliers if necessary)
- Sew the small white circle of wool onto the center of the pin, covering the LED light.
- Twist the knobs of the potentiometers to change the color of the LED lights
Video